Stevenage was Britain's first postwar New Town, its original neighbourhood design incorporating green corridors, pedestrianised shopping and plentiful park trees that still produce reliable forage. The lime, sycamore and horse chestnut of the town-centre planting carry colonies from early May, and the hedged farmland of the Hertfordshire chalk beyond Pin Green and Shephall gives local bees access to oilseed rape, clover and a long late-summer bramble run.
Collectors in Stevenage regularly attend swarms in the park trees of the Old Town green and Fairlands Valley Park, in the garden hedgerows of Chells and Broadwater, in the flat-roof and mono-pitch housing of the original 1950s neighbourhood units, and in the hedgerow oaks and hawthorns of the greenbelt fringe towards Knebworth and Walkern.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
SG6 1NX· approx. 9 km
Visit websiteAL7 3TT· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteSG13 7DR· approx. 15 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The chalk uplands of the north — around Baldock, Royston and Letchworth — give oilseed rape, sainfoin and a solid hawthorn flow. The southern clay country leans on sycamore, horse chestnut and field maple, with the limes of Hertford, Harpenden and St Albans producing a classic June crop. Ashridge, Tring Park and the Chilterns edge add beech forage. Bramble on the commons and rosebay willowherb along the Lee Valley corridor carry midsummer. Ivy closes a long, productive year.
More on beekeeping in HertfordshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
